Share

The newly-opened El Paso Children's Hospital has something no other hospital in the Borderland does: a family resource center. It's a place where children and they families can turn to after their diagnosis to get some answers. And a non-profit organization made it happen.

Six-thousand children are projected to come through the newly-opened El Paso Children's Hospital this coming year. And to provide a place for children and their families the Junior League of El Paso Inc. started the Family Resource Center. "Junior League's $100,000 contribution to this has helped build a library in terms of all of the resources, the books, and the computers that kids are using," said University Medical Center Foundation Executive Director Dennece Knight.

Sassie Colquitt, the committee chair for the Family Resource Center, and six other women have spent the past nine months getting everything ready. "A lot of research was done to see what materials as far as books would be best and best serve the kids and we also had to think of the siblings and the parents of the children," said Colquitt.

The facility has a several rooms that serve a different purpose. The business center allows parents the opportunity to do some work away from the office or look up other information they need. "It's a place where they'll find out about support groups, how to get around El Paso, how do I get to the zoo, what time does the movie start?" said Knight.

The family room allows families the chance to interact in a living room setting or watch television. Another advantage the Family Resource Center offers is allowing kids an opportunity to continue their education. "This area has a classroom where we're going to be able to provide those kids that are here for an extended period of time a place to continue their school," said El Paso Children's Hospital Director of Family Support Services Ana Maria Hernandez.

The Junior League plans to order new books and material on a regular basis so that there's always something fresh and fun for kids and families to enjoy. "It's just such a wonderful thing for the families to have, to be able to come in here and be families and get away from the hospital environment," said Colquitt.

The Junior League of El Paso Inc. Family Resource Center will be dedicated a week from Thursday. Volunteers from Junior League will also help staff the center. For more information... visit jlep.org.

Spaces are allowed; punctuation is not allowed except for periods, hyphens, and underscores.

E-mail address:

A valid e-mail address. All e-mails from the system will be sent to this address. The e-mail address is not made public and will only be used if you wish to receive a new password or wish to receive certain news or notifications by e-mail.